Dogster/Catster Navigation Tips

We are going to start out with some of the simpliest things and move on from there. Tips will be posted in messages and then put in a thread in the group forum area. If you see this post, you have already learned the first lesson.

A lot of new pups and kitties do not know how to access the forum area so our first tip will be how to access the group forum.

The Group Forum area can be seen from the group page. You must enter it to see all the threads and to start a topic or reply to one.

Look above where the messages are posted and below where your My Account tab is and the words "Group Forum" with "June 07 Adopt a Dogster/Catster Event" in big red letters is right below it.

When you put your cursor on the big red letters and underline appears under the letters. Click on this link.

You will come to a Group Thread Listing. You can scroll through it to see if you want to take a look. The Author, Topic, number of replies, date of last reply and Last poster will show up for each thread.

Click on the topic and you will enter that thread. You can scroll through and look at the original post and the responses. If there is more than one page, there will be a link to the top right or bottom right of the page with page numbers. Click on the page you want to look at.

To reply to the post, click on the tab to the right that says Post response. Type what you want in the box. Pick your author in the appropriate box to the left.

Click on either Preview or Post depending on whether you want to see it first.

If you preview, it will have a selection where you can post now or you can scroll down lower and edit it.

Then hit post.

Any questions, please post them or p-mail me. To fully enjoy most groups, access to the group forum area is important. We have some games posted in our forum area now. Go ahead and play the games in the thread and practice accessing the group forum area.

You have found a pup/kitty that you would like to send a message to and don't know how.

Underneath each pup/kitty's picture are several buttons. You can put your cursor on each button and a description of what they are for pops up.

The first button looks like an envelope. Click on that button. Once you do, you will come to a page that says "Send this cutie a message". You will fill out the pet author by clicking on the arrow in the drop down box.

Put a subject line in the small box that says "Email Subject" and write you message in the large box that says "Email Message" and then hit submit.

E-mails in dogster/catster are called p-mails for paw mails. Your private p-mail box can be found by clicking on the My Account tab towards the top of the page. The third tab from the right.

You will then see Your Dogster Account Page.

The first item listed in your account page will be your paw mail.

You will see NEW with a red number by it.
OPENED with a red number by it and TRASHED with a red number by it.

To read new p-mails you can click on the number next to NEW. Your -mail box will open up.

Your next page is your
Dogster or Catster Paw Mail Box.

There will be a list of new p-mails and the old opened ones will be there too.

The new unopened ones will be in bold.

You will see From and a picture of the dog/cat the message is from.

Then you will see To and a picture of the dog/cat it is to.

Next column is the subject line.

Then then date it was sent.

To read your p-mail, click on the subject which is in red lettering.

You will see your message and there is a reply button there if you would like to reply to this p-mail. There is also a delete button or you can just leave it there until they archive it or you can delete it later.

So if you have not checked your p-mail boxes yet, pop over there and check it out. If you have not received any mail yet, p-mail your mentor or someone else in this group you would like to say hi to.

Any questions, you can p-mail me or post the question here in the messages.

You have a message you want to send out to all the pups/kitties in your group.

Go below where the messages are listed and click on the Send Message link.

A new page will appear that says "Send A Message to the Entire Group".

Pick out the pup or kitty that is sending the message in the Pick Your Pet Author drop down box by clicking on the arrow and then clicking on the pet's name.

Fill in your Subject. And then type your message in the message box.

There is a tab there that says "Preview this message to the group" . Click on it. Take a look at the message and if it looks good, click on Send Message.

If you want to edit it, click on Go Back and Make Changes and then go through the preview again and click Send Message if it looks good.

If you want to view more messages than what is showing on the group page, you can click on the link below the messages that says View Messages.

It will pop up a whole page of messages and you can see if you want to look at those. There are also page links on the top right corner where you can click on and look at more messages that are on the other pages.

You are on a page of a pup or kitty you really like and you want to send them a pup pal request.

The button is in the same place for dogsters or catsters.

Underneath the picture of the pet, are buttons. You can click on the second button which is a star.

It will take you to a page where you can write a message if you like (it is always nice to do) and you will see this pup's or kitties other pup siblings or kitty siblings depending on which site you are on.

You can put check marks next to them too if you want to be pals. I always want to ask the entire furfamily. We don't like leaving any out and the more friends, the merrier.

Once you are done with that, click on the submit button.

This will send an e-mail to them on their regular e-mail account telling them that you are inviting them to be pals.

You can see in your account page under number 1, your pup pal requests received that need to be taken care of and the number of pup pal requests sent. You can click on the red lettering for pup pal requests and see the requests you sent or received.

On the left hand side of your page under where it says Find a Dogster/Catster is an Advanced Search link in small letters underneath the two boxes for a search. You can use this to search for specific breeds of dogs/cats, dogs with a certain name and/or home town of a dog/cat, and the state or country. You can fill in one field or more.

You can also look for certain weights, genders or other characteristics too in a checklist that is provided.

You have a choice of a random search, search for newest on site or oldest on site.

And you can look at your search results page by page or have them give you 20 thumbnails per page.

After filling out all or some of these items, click on the Search button.

A page stroll will come up. There will be a small link in the right hand corner that will tell you this is 1 of a 1,000 dogs/cats that the search put on your stroll. You also have on the top right hand side a link for next dog where you will click to look at the next dog.

Fun item for looking for your own breed or for your own state or matches to your own name. You can also look up a specific pup with this feature too.

There are 6554 Dogsters groups as of this writing and more being added all the time.

How do you search through all the groups?

One of the buttons at the top, says "Groups". Click on that button and it takes you to a page that says "Welcome to Dogster/Catster Groups".

This page also has a list of the groups you are in and a list of the groups where you are an administator. And there are buttons with several ways to look at groups.

You can click on the button to search all groups.

One of the best ways is to click on the button that says "Search Groups".

There are several ways to search for groups and you can fill in one or more of the options.

You can search by name if you know a group's exact name.

You can search by breed. There is a drop down box where you can select the breed you want to search.

You can search by state and/or city.

And there is a box that says Order By:
That drop down box will give you the choices of alphabetical
breed
most members
least members
open membership

I like to use this one to start with groups with the most members.

Fill in the fields you want and click Submit.

Then you will get a list of groups that you can check out.

One thing to keep in mind when looking at a group page is if there have been any recent posts. Over time, I have learned I don't want to join a group where there has not been a post in over a month.

You can only look at the group page. If you try to look any further it won't let you unless you belong to the group.

There will be a description under the group name telling you what the group is about. There will also be a red link there for you to click on. Some groups let you join whenver you want. With some other groups that want to limit their group to certain parameters, there will be a link you can click on to request an invite to the group.

Also, be sure to check out the Group Spotlights Gibbon is posting throughtout the month. He will be spotlighting some fantastic groups to join. Groups are a great way to get to know other pups. Be sure to check them out.

Are you in a group and would like to invite another pup or kitty friend or a sibling? In most cases, you can do that.

Once again, scroll down to the links below the pictures of the group administrators to the links below the words Group Administrata.

There is a link there that says Invite a New Member to the Group. Click on that link. You will need the dogster or catster id number to fill in. You will put that number in the box and hit submit. A page will come up with the pup's or kitty's picture and you will hit submit if that is who you want to invite. If it is not there is a link at the bottom to go back and try again.

In rare instances, the group administrator is the only one who can do invites. In that case, you would have to p-mail the group admin and see if he would invite your friend or sibling.

Rosettes and Stars are gifts you can give to other pups that will show up on their page. Dogsters and Catsters that purchase Dogster Plus or Catster Plus get 25 rosettes each month to give to their friends just because or for a special occasion or to say thanks or you're great. They are great to send to some pal needing comfort, prayers or sympathy.

Rosettes last a month. Stars are permanent gifts on your pal's page.

You can also purchase zealies. It takes 5 zealies to send a star to a page. 1 zealie to send a rosette. The 25 rosettes Plus members get are different and can only be given away as 25 rosettes. 5 of them do not equal a star.

To purchase zealies, go to the left column and click on My Account. Then scroll down to Check My Zealies Balance and click on it. You will come to a page that will show you your zealies balance and there will be a drop down box showing you packages you can purchase. By hitting purchase now it will take you to paypal and you can pay for them through paypal. If you don't have a paypal account there is a link with a phone number to call to pay by credit card or by check.

To give a rosette or star, go to the pup/kitty's page and the button that is the farthest to the right looks like a package. Click on that. You will see a box pop up with a choice of giving a rosette or star and which pup or kitty would like to give the gift. If you are giving a rosette, there will be options of the kind you want to give. The different color ribbons and rainbow are permanent choices and they have other different rosette choices that change periodically.

Type a message that will show up when they click on their rosette or star. Then click Give the Gift.

They will receive an e-mail telling them that you sent them a rosette or star and they can go to their page and click on it and read your message.